Workshop Creator Online Course
How do you create workshops that... work?
One morning in late 2015, I was standing in an empty room, waiting for the fun to start.
I’d signed up to lead a 1-day workshop, and I was excited.
I’d memorised all the stuff I wanted to talk about. I had a bunch of fun, interactive activities planned. I knew there were a bunch of people signed up to attend. The sun was shining.
It was going to be great.
I was completely wrong. It was horrible.
All those activities I thought were really cool turned out to be totally lame; people stared at me blankly or looked down at their shoes when I explained stuff; every single thing we did seemed to run late, no matter how what I did. Even the lunch was terrible. And it started raining.
Somehow I made through the day in one piece, but it was a harrowing experience. I’ll never forget how I felt once everyone had left the room. I was exhausted; embarrassed; frustrated; beaten.
I never wanted to have that feeling again.
The journey
Despite that terrible experience, I knew this interactive, hands-on approach to learning was the future. I just hadn’t figured out how to do it.
I vowed to learn everything I could to make my workshops better.
During my process of discovery, I found something strange. There were public speaking videos on YouTube, and expensive training courses sold to big companies, but hardly anything in between.
If you wanted to run workshops to make better connections with clients, engage a team, or share your ideas and expertise, there just didn’t seem a practical way to learn how to do it well.
Through extensive trial and error, I eventually realised there were some key principles and models that I could synthesize into a system. Suddenly, my work as a workshop designer and facilitator improved exponentially in the space of just a few months.
Magic tricks
Since then, I’ve spent thousands of hours building and running all kinds of programs, workshops, and courses – for Fortune 100 companies, startup accelerators, creative communities, and youth nonprofits.
The question I now get asked most often by workshop participants is along the lines of “how did you do that?!”. People think it’s some kind of magic trick to conjure up an hour, a day, or a month’s worth of learning that left them feeling energised instead of exhausted.
So I’ve taken everything I’ve learned so far and built a course for anyone to develop their workshop creation superpowers.
Introducing In:Session – Workshop Creator
This course was created upon two foundational beliefs: that anyone can become a capable and confident workshop design and facilitator; and workshops skills are hugely valuable in tomorrow’s workplace.
Consider this course your fast track to a whole new skill set that will enable you share your expertise, build your authority, inspire others, and create new opportunities and revenue streams.
This is the most extensive practical course on this topic that’s available online, and I guarantee it will bring you a bunch of ‘aha’ moments that’ll lift you work to another level.
But why does all this matter? And why now?
Let’s be honest. Moving things online isn’t so easy.
A lot of meetings, courses, and workshops suffer from a common set of challenges. These can kill an audience’s energy, overcomplicate concepts, or get the teacher in a twist.
Online, these challenges feel even harder to overcome.
If you’re designing or leading an online learning experience, there are so many questions to answer:
How do I bring energy and engagement to an online workshop?
What are the best ways to liven up a class or course?
Why do so many webinars fall flat, and how do I make mine better?
Which elements of the offline experience translate best, and why?
But there’s more than just being able to make an online experience work.
With interactive workshops becoming the future of learning, there’s huge opportunity opening up to people who are able to design and teach them.
The rise of the workshop creator
Being able to design and run your own workshops is a fantastic way to share your knowledge and ideas, and empower others to go out and do the same.
Becoming an accomplished workshop creator is a real superpower – and the two underpinning skills of process design and facilitation are now key competencies in the modern world of work.
These are skills that aren’t getting automated any time soon. They’re hugely valuable – whether you’re working within a company, building a business of your own, or supporting others as a freelancer or consultant.
In this course, you’ll build all the skills you need to design and deliver high-impact, interactive workshops of any flavor.
What they say
Here’s what people say about my work as a workshop facilitator and designer:
“I cannot recommend this enough for anyone who wants to learn how to run effective online meetings, short courses or workshops.
Hanna Celina
More engaging than many in-person workshops I attended. Very meta. Fun. Interactive.”
Head of Insights, FutureLearn
Former Head of EMEA Real Estate Finance, Google
‘Always excellent at explaining and making things easily understandable‘
‘Incredibly supportive and knowledgeable’
‘Exceptional facilitator‘
‘great presentation skills and interpersonal skills’
‘Awesome! Dynamic and engaging’
‘Engaging, humorous, conducive to learning, helpful, personal, understanding’
‘GREAT! super helpful, friendly and responsive‘
‘Howard is really cool; easy and fun exercises. Very thought provoking‘
‘Howard is amazing! Humorous and helpful’
‘Fun, dynamic, hands-on, funny, great energy, and full of information’
“Extraordinary – one of the best teachers I’ve had in any environment”
4 Modules, 4 Mindsets
We believe workshops are like stories – they unfold over time, with tension, suspense, characters, and themes.
This course unfolds over 4 modules, with each module comprised of 3-5 episodes.
Within each episode? A handful of scenes, breaking down the key concepts in the story.
You’ll also get over 20 resources and templates to help design and build your own workshop products.
Module 1: First Principles
Thinking like a workshop creator
You’ll get under the skin of what drives learning and growth, and build your skills in the practice of learning design
Module 2: Design & Structure
Designing like a workshop creator
You’ll be able to design a powerful and scaleable workshop or short course format you use in-person or online
Module 3: Content & Craft
Developing like a workshop creator
You’ll be able to craft a workshop narrative, and create interactive workshop activities that really work
Module 4: Facilitation & Performance
Delivering like a workshop creator
You’ll build skills to lead and support a group, and develop your own unique style of presentation.
Take a sneak peek
Course Packages
This course includes over 50 bitesize video lessons, and more than 20 resources, worksheets and exercises.
The course comes in 2 different flavors:
- Self-Paced: all the content, resources and worksheets, ready to roll, available whenever you need it
- Live: this 6-week experiential program will connect you with a global cohort of fellow creators, as well as our workshop team supporting you every step of the way
If 1:1 partnership is more up your street, I offer two types of coaching packages to design and develop your workshop or program. We’ll partner up over 4 or 6 working sessions to design, sculpt and refine every aspect of your project. Learn more about coaching and co-development
Not sure yet?
And if you’re not sure about jumping in just yet? Check out my free email course, or explore some of my articles on the future of learning,